Aunt Petunia's Secrets
by lovely ravenclaw
Summary: While biding time before going back to the Burrow, Harry finds out an interesting secret Aunt Petunia's been keeping from him his whole life. Contains HBP spoilers.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.

Warning: This story is post-HBP, so it contains spoilers for those who haven't finished reading it.

**Chapter 1: Letters**

Harry walked idly through his aunt and uncle's house on Privet Drive. He looked in the refrigerator, but found he was not really hungry. He went upstairs and picked up a book about the history of Quidditch, but couldn't bring himself to actually read it. He lounged on the sofa and turned on the television, but couldn't find anything remotely interesting to watch. Harry sighed, wondering what everyone else was doing right now. Though he did not really want to be at the Burrow right now where everyone was undoubtedly in a frenzy over last minute wedding preparations, Harry was desperate to leave Privet Drive. Since Dumbledore had told Harry, several years earlier, the reason he must return to his aunt and uncle's house every summer, someone had always come to fetch him when the time was right. The summer before Harry's fourth year of school, Arthur Weasley had shown up, delighted to see a real Muggle house. Before Harry's fifth year, an entire armed guard had arrived to escort him to Grimauld Place. And just last year, Dumbledore himself had come. The thought made Harry shudder with grief. Though Harry knew he had to come to Privet Drive for his last summer before coming of age, Harry did not know how long he would have to stay and was simply planning on going to the Burrow for Fleur and Bill's wedding. Still, Harry was suddenly tempted by the idea of just leaving and taking up residence at Grimauld Place, which had been left to him by Sirius. Suddenly a loud crash interrupted his planning.

Assuming the nose was made by something entirely non-magical (it had not been, Harry was certain, the sharp crack of someone apparating), Harry lackadaisically made his way to the kitchen, where the crash seemed to have come from. Entering the kitchen cautiously, wand raised, Harry was surprised to see nothing out of the ordinary. Suspiciously he pulled open the screen door, leading from the kitchen to the back yard. He looked around curiously, not seeing anything. Then suddenly he heard a hoot from the ground. Looking down, he saw a disheveled owl lying at his feet, obviously recovering from crashing into his back door.

Harry's heart leapt at the sight of the owl, which had a rolled piece of parchment tied round its leg.

"It's about bloody time they sent me some news," he said, half to himself and half to the dizzy owl. As Harry reached down to retrieve the letter from the owl's leg, it jumped back, looking offended. Harry took another step forward toward the owl, but it only hopped out of reach again. "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. I've even got some owl treats right upstairs. Just give me the letter, I know it's for me, there aren't any other witches or wizards around here," Harry reasoned with the little bird. He lunged forward again to trap the owl when it suddenly flew over his head into the house. Harry took off after the owl, obviously confused. "Get back here! What do you think you're doing?"

The owl, however, seemed to know exactly what he was doing. It flew decisively threw the house and up the stairs. Harry bounded after it, wondering who exactly had sent him a letter with such an unruly bird. Coming to the top of the stairs, Harry watched the bird alight on the doorknob of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's room. With a soft hoot from the bird, the previously locked door swung open.

"No, no, no! Get out of there you mangy git! They'll kill me when they find out!" Harry rushed after the bird. Rather than flying aimlessly around the room, the owl had gone straight to Aunt Petunia's closet (which, by the way, had also swung open to allow the bird entry), and was now pecking gently at a floorboard. At this point, Harry had given up trying to catch the bird. He stared in disbelief as one of the boards lifted itself while the bird dropped the letter inside. Silently the board slid back in place and the bird, having achieved its purpose, flew out of the room, down the steps, and out the door.

Harry crept forward cautiously and tapped his wand on the floorboard, allowing some of his magic to pour into it. Without a bit of resistance, the board flew up again, allowing just enough room for his hand to fit in the hollow spot below. With a great amount of hesitation, Harry slid his hand inside, feeling around for the letter the bird had dropped inside. To his surprise, his hand clutched a large packet of papers. He wedged the paper out from under the board and almost dropped them back in out of surprise. They were letters written on parchment with a quill, and as he flipped through them, many of them were stamped with "Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Harry thought back to 7 years before, when the letters started to come informing Harry of his new school. Had Aunt Petunia kept them all? Upon closer inspection though, Harry saw that the letters were addressed to Petunia, not Harry, and the dates at the top varied. Harry sat back on his heels with a stunned look on his face.

_What was Aunt Petunia doing corresponding with the wizarding world?_

A/N: I'm still fairly new to writing Fan Fiction. Please please review this story and let me know what you think so far!


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